Well connected

SO THERE you are, waiting to cross the road when a car pulls up, a passenger leans out and asks you the way to the nearest bank. There happen to be two routes, a long drive down the main road with a single left turn and a much shorter way that twists and turns through backstreets. Which do you tell them?

The answer is the longer, simpler route. Try giving directions with too many left and right-hand turns and the travellers are likely to end up lost. Perhaps because our brains can cope with only so much complexity, humans prefer easy routes over labyrinthine ones. It is the same desire for simplicity that underpins the old music hall joke. "How do I get to the Old Kent Road from here?" runs the gag. "Well if I were you," comes the reply, "I wouldn't start from here."

Our preference for straightforward ...

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